What does it mean to consider a life well-lived?
While some may name material successes as a measure of a good life, for most, it’s simply one filled with love, one spent making memories with family and friends, and doing good work in service to your community.
By that measure, Mary Miles Perdue, who turns 100 years old on March 26, continues to have such a life — one she’s thankful for each day.
Credit: Provided
Credit: Provided
“I am so grateful to the Lord that I am able to make it this far,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m just appreciative that he has kept me here this long.”
Born in Greensboro in 1922, Perdue has called Atlanta home for over 90 years — and she’s witnessed profound social shifts throughout those nine decades.
“Things sure have changed,” said Perdue. “There seems to be a whole lot going on, more than when I was born in 1922.
“I watch the news and see all that’s happening. But one of the major things that has changed is that now, unlike back when I was younger, Black and white people are able to be in the same places. All those years ago, that wasn’t allowed. If you were Black, you stayed in the Black section. So that has definitely changed.”
Perdue has spent nearly all of her life as a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church and was also a long-time employee of the Atlanta Braves organization.
She will be celebrating this milestone birthday with three generations of grandchildren to whom she’s served as an inspiration and good example.
Credit: Provided
Credit: Provided
Her granddaughter, Debra Witherow Askew, said Perdue taught her “to be kind to people, to treat people like you would like to be treated. To be independent, to keep things clean.”
“The most valuable thing my great-grandmother has taught me has just been to keep moving, always be active,” said her great-grandson, Gari Askew.
“To this day, she’s still fairly mobile. She just does the things she’s used to doing with either caretakers or family, but she’s always been very active within her interests and activities.”
Perdue said that at nearly 100 years old, she’s feeling well.
“Oh, I feel good,” she said, “Just like everyone else, I have my good days and my bad days, but overall I feel real good. I had a good doctors’ appointment today, and that made me feel great, too.”
When asked what advice she might have for younger folks about a life well-lived, she offered a few words about faith and kindness.
“Trust God,” she said. “I know for a fact that God is the reason I made it to 100. That’s God’s work as far as I’m concerned. He brought me this far. Make sure you’re good to others, too. Always try to help somebody when they need it. Or give them something out of the kindness of your heart, and remember that if you call on God, he answers.”
Credit: Provided
Credit: Provided
As for Gari Askew, he has his own birthday wish for his great-grandmother.
“My birthday wish for her is for her to just really feel on all levels of her senses how immensely appreciated she is by each member of her family and the people in her life,” he said.
“To have the influence she’s been in all our lives, for all this time, is such an incredible blessing. And we’re grateful for her and the moment. And my hope is that she really feels that.”
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